What about NOW?
by toneouttheworld
Summary: Belly, Conrad, Steven and Jeremiah are all at the summer house. This takes place before the first book. Conrad and Belly go out when they were younger. do things end up the same in the same in the end? **WRITTEN TWO YEARS PRIOR TO 2014**
1. Belly, The Basketball Playing Outsider

**A/N (author's note) this is my favorite book series in the entire world. I read "the summer I turned pretty" and "it's not summer without you" and I have "we'll always have summer" on my bookshelf right now as I'm writing this, but I haven't actually read it yet, because summer's coming soon and it would be an awesome book to read at the beach so I haven't read that book yet. This takes place before the first book but it takes some of **

**Belly P.O.V (point of view)**

_Age Thirteen_

I took a breath, almost in tears. I sat up in my bed, in cousins. I stared at the clock for a moment. It seemed as if it stared back at me, with its bright red, numbers. It read 10:06. Though the wall I heard the boys. Conrad, Jeremiah, and Steven all giggling and whispering. Like little gossiping girls.

It was times like this I wished I was different. I was too little, too young, too _girl. _I remembered, earlier in the day what happened.

The boys were shooting around, playing basketball in one of our neighbor's yards, and using our neighbor's basketball hoop. I got bored at the house, so Susannah told me where the boys were, and said I could go there. I walked over to the "court". Steven was the first to talk.

"What are _you _doing here?" I remained silent for a moment thinking what to say.

"Susannah said I could come, I got bored." I told him truthfully.

He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but you don't know how to play basketball." Conrad said, and Steven's face got red.

I _could _play basketball. It was my best sport.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, really." Conrad said again.

I glanced over at Jeremiah, the only nice one. He had a mix of "I-agree-with-Steven-and- Conrad" and "I-feel-bad-for-Belly" look on his face.

"Pass me the ball." I said to them.

Conrad snickered.

"No way, get it, if you can." I shrugged.

He started to dribble, and I started to play defense on him. I stayed on him, not letting him get around me. He went to shoot and I stuffed him. I ran around fast and grabbed the ball that was rolling across our neighbor's driveway.

I dribbled, and before Conrad could get to me, I made a perfect shot. I was 99% sure that ball was going to go in and prove "little girls" can do anything boys can do. But that 99% was on the boy's side and it bounced off the backboard.

Conrad already tried to humiliate me, and I proved him wrong, but now, it was Steven's turn. Steven's turn to _really _humiliate me.

"You can reeeally play basketball, Belly." Steven said sarcastically. Rage filled my whole body, but I kept it under control, somehow.

"That was just an unlucky miss." I told him.

"No." He replied.

"That was just a _lucky _stuff you had on Conrad."

Conrad chuckled and now, Steven and Conrad were both on the same page, Jeremiah stayed silent, as he did this whole time.

"C'mon then." I said. This is where that rage would come out of me.

"Me and Jeremiah verses you and Conrad." I told him.

"There's no way in hell that Jeremiah would be on your team, right Jere?" Steven said back to me.

Jeremiah didn't reply with agreement. But he suddenly joined their side, and plotted against me.

"Whoa. Watch the language. She's only thirteen."

The 2 boys sat in shock. I wasn't sure if it was because they were impressed with my playing after remembering that I was only thirteen, or because Jeremiah actually remembered my age, when even my own brother didn't know.

I broke their silence by saying "C'mon you babies, you're afraid you're gonna get beat?"

"Yeah, actually," Conrad said

"But not by you, by Jeremiah." Steven added.

"Yeah, he's a pretty beast basketball player."

I glanced over at Jeremiah who didn't say a word.

This is when it got mean. _Really mean. _

"Go. Home. Belly." Steven told me.

I snickered. "I don't need to take orders from _you._" I told him.

Steven grabbed me by the shoulders and brought me to the side of our neighbor's house. He then backed me up into the side of the house until I was pinned there.

"Maybe you won't take orders from _me. _But Conrad doesn't know about your little secret, now does he?" I held my breath.

I forgot about the secret. I forgot I liked Conrad. While he was so mean to me at least. But strangely, I still did. Still liked him. Still loved him. Still. Even after he met Angie at the board walk last year. Even after this game. Still. Conrad. Just Conrad.

"You. Wouldn't." I said to him.

"Yeah, I would. Unless you leave. Now."

I had to leave. Never. At least not now. Conrad would never find out. Not now at least. My crush didn't last long, and I needed it to last longer. Longer than just a summer.

"Fine." I said to him.

He smiled, knowing my one weakness and knowing where he can blackmail me from. The secret.

I pretended to have a text.

"Oh yeah!" I said in a fake tone. Conrad and Jeremiah didn't see through my fake tone.

"I have to go guys. Later." I said and ran off.

I wanted to cry but I wanted to scream all at the same time. Steven just blackmailed me into leaving, and I was screwed.

Steven would never stop now. He knew just the trick to get me to leave. In the summer at least. My proven skills meant nothing to them. If I was a guy, I'd be better. If I was a guy, they'd let me stay. If I was a guy, then they'd think I was good. Being the little girl isn't always easy. That's why I'm here. Now. Excluded from their little group and conversation. Being a girl, meant I was different. I was just an outsider to them.

**That's my first chapter so far! Hoped you liked it! **

**~Blacklove190 **


	2. Jeremiah, The Beach, and Seashells

**Belly P.O.V (point of view)**

_Age Thirteen_

The next morning I woke up to the sun peeking through the window shades. I looked over at the clock with the bright red numbers. 6:45. Around now, sometimes I'd go into the boy's room and see if Conrad or Jeremiah would walk to the beach with me if they were up. I snuck into the boys room, silently. The door creeked open.

I looked at Conrad's bed first. Conrad was asleep, sprawled in a star shape. I then looked over at Jeremiah, who was awake and on his ipod. He didn't notice me standing there for a moment, but when he did, he knew why I was there.

"Wanna go?" He whispered to me.

I nodded.

I went back into my room and tied my long brown hair up into a bun. I then slid my pink flip-flops on my feet. I walked into our kitchen, knowing that Jeremiah was probably there. He was. We left a note for Laurel and Susannah if they woke up before we got back.

The beach was about a mile away from cousins, but the walked seemed short. Once we approached the boards leading to the beach, I ran ahead of Jeremiah. Once I got to the top, I kicked my flip-flops off and jumped onto the sand, sprawled out like Conrad was in his bed.

Once Jeremiah reached the top, I heard him chuckle. He kicked his shoes off and ran toward me. He jumped over me, kicking sand into my mouth, but I didn't care, this was my world. He then lied on the sand a few feet away from me.

We lied there for 10 minutes at least with only the sound of the waves and the seagulls. This was my favorite time at the beach. So much peace and quiet. Jeremiah was first to get up. He went by the edge of the water and let the ice water tickle his toes. I followed and did the same.

After, I started to walk around and collect shells. I put them in a pile. Jeremiah did the same and put his shells in the same pile. Sometimes, in the mornings, Jeremiah and I put our shells in a pile, and then brought them to the shore to throw, and skip. But this time we didn't. Just collected.

We collected shells for around another hour before going back to the house. A very short little hour. A short little hour of seashells. Jeremiah and I didn't talk very much in that hour, but we knew what each other was thinking through the looks we had and the way we acted.

Jere is really my best friend. My best guy friend at least. He is the only one out of the 3 boys who treat me _nicely. _If he doesn't it's because he just wants to fit in. I'm never "Belly, the outcast" when Jere's around. I'm just Belly. Just Belly.

**Next Chapter should be here soon! **

**Thanks for Reading! **

**~Blacklove 190**


	3. The Boardwalk is the spark

**Belly P.O.V**

_Age Thirteen_

The rest of the day went by normal. Left out and insulted. The next day, Jeremiah and Steven went to a party. Conrad said he was too tired to go and he'd rather just hang home. I would have went, but I was excluded as usual. Laurel and Susannah went to a friend's house while we were home alone.

I was in my room, almost sleeping, snuggling with Junior Mint, my stuffed animal Conrad won for me the year before. I didn't think Conrad was all that tired. If either of us was tired it was me, the one with a 5 hour sleep last night, being kept up with their screams from the night before when they were watching some scary movie. The boys slept into the day, when I was woke up earlier by the sun.

I started to doze. A sudden knock on the door to my bedroom woke me.

"Mmm, come in." I said.

I wasn't sure if Laurel and Susannah came back yet, so I wasn't really sure on whom it was.

"Belly? Are you sleeping?" Conrad said as the door creeked open.

"I'm up." I said, resting my eyes.

"You wanna go to the board walk with me?"

I didn't answer. I remembered the year before. When we went and he went to see Angie. When he went to look at her with the same short-shorts I had. Those shorts were too small now, but I still remembered. I still had Junior Mint. I still had the memory of that broken heart, trapped in me.

"Why?" I said, putting my guard up.

"I'm bored, and we had fun last year."

If my eyes were open, I would have rolled them. But just because I was upset, didn't mean I didn't want to go. Maybe I had a chance with someone else. Maybe I could find someone there I would like. Maybe it was my turn.

I pushed the covers off me and got up.

"Sure." I said sleepily.

"Let me change." I said.

He left and I put on a yellow sundress Susannah had bought for me last week. I tied my hair in a bun on the top of my bed. I put white filp-flops on and then left the room. I heard Conrad playing the guitar in his room. I knocked on the door and the playing stopped.

"You ready?" He asked me.

"Yup." I replied.

I wasn't tired anymore. I walked out the front door and we walked to the board walk. It wasn't far, but it was farther than the beach. Once we got there I was reminded of something.

"Oops!" I said aloud.

"What?" He looked at me, concerned.

"I forgot to bring money." I told him.

"That's okay, I have some." I blinked a little confused.

There was something about Conrad. How his attitude changed according to who he was with. When he was with Steven he treated me like he hated me. Like I was just some bitchy girl he had met. But, when the rest of them weren't there. Especially Steven, he was nice. Sometimes.

Conrad bought tickets and we went on a few rides, but that whole time I was debating something. 'Should I ask about Angie? Where did she go? She was here?' We went on the Egyptian ride, the ones that people always sit on the ends on. Once we got off, i decided to ask.

"So what happened to Angie?" I asked while walking.

He was silent, looking for an answer.

"I don't know." He said. I knew he was lying.

"I don't care, but what happened to her? She was here last year, so where is she now?"

He did the same thing. Quiet. Looking for an answer.

He sighed.

"She, uh. She, uh." He stopped.

"She got married to a guy who lived in Jersey." I stopped walking and stood there in shock for a moment.

I finally said, "She was your age? You're 15! You're too young to get _married_!"

He sighed again.

"Nope. She was older. A lot older."

"How old?" I asked quietly.

"Last year she was twenty."

I snickered.

"This year turned twenty-one and got married." I snickered again.

Conrad had an angry expression on his face.

"sorry."

He snickered

"It's okay. That's why I'm here. To move on." He told me.

"Maybe I'll find someone, someone closer to my family. Someone younger. Someone more…Belly."

He was holding my hand, and drew a crowd.

"uh." I said.

That's the only thing that came in my head. 'uh' I liked him, but WHAT? All summer and all through the school year, when Taylor had asked, 'Belly, Who do you like?' I would always say Conrad. Conrad. Conrad Fisher. The one and only Conrad Fisher that came from cousins. But he never acted this way. Not toward me at least. The only time I've ever seen him actually like someone was last year. With Angie. But besides that, no one. And now, me? This was something I wanted and I knew exactly what to say back.

"Me too. To move on. From school boys. I need someone older, someone closer to my family. Someone more….Conrad."

**I tried to keep this on a hang! I hope you liked it! **

**~Blacklove190**


	4. Forever?

**Belly P.O.V**

_Age Thirteen_

A few days went by. During those few days, we made it official. We're together. Conrad and me. Me and Conrad. We decided we wanted to keep it a secret. If Steven found out, I wouldn't know what he'd do. Susannah would probably be saying "I told you so!" because she always had said that I was destined for one of her boys. In these last few days, we've been getting up early in the morning, earlier then the time me and Jeremiah went to the beach, more like fiveish, and we'd meet in private.

I was sleeping and was woken up by a knock on my door. It wasn't exactly five. It was closer to four. I didn't answer, but I saw the door creek open. It was Conrad.

"Hi Belly button."

I answered with a "mmm."

"You wanna go up to the beach?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Five more minutes." I grumbled tiredly.

He got in my bed with me and wrapped his arms around me. I felt too young for having him next to me like this, but I didn't care.

After a minute or so, it felt awkward, so I got up.

Conrad left the room and I did the same thing I did when I went to the beach with Jeremiah, put my hair up, and slid flip-flops on. But this time I put a little bit of lip gloss on.

I started to look for Conrad. He wasn't downstairs in the kitchen or living room. I ran back up the stairs and looked in his room. He was lying in his bed.

"You ready?" I asked him at the door of his bedroom.

"Yeah, come here." He told me.

I came over. He got up fast and picked me up, left the room, and started carrying me down the stairs.

I smiled and started laughing.

"Put me down!" I said a little bit too loud.

"Belly!" It was Steven. I heard footsteps and I'm sure Conrad did too because before I could even think about it, Conrad put me down on the stair in front of him. He grabbed my hand and ran in front of me. I ran a little bit slower, but our hands were still linked.

We quickly ran out the door and down the street. We ran to the beach, the whole way. The whole mile. At the bottom of the boards we stopped running and started laughing.

We faced each other. Not until that moment, I've never realized how much taller he is then me, how tired I really was, and how much I really liked him.

I looked up at him, and he looked down at me. We got close, close enough to kiss. It looked like he was about to kiss me, but I wasn't ready. I needed a better moment. I grabbed his hand.

"C'mon." I said I pulling him up the top of the boards.

Even after we got to the top, I kept running onto the beach. I let go of his hand and fell onto the soft sand purposely. He laughed. He did the same and grabbed my hand. I looked at him, and he looked back.

We just sat there, staring at each other for a few minutes. I finally sat up, and he inched toward me. This time, I inched back. He inched closer again, and again and again, until our lips were together, touching. I closed my eyes. His eyes were closed too. A flutter went up in my stomach. I then heard a gasp. Our eyes opened at the same time, and our lips ripped apart. We looked over at the top of the boards. It was Steven.

**Another Hang! **

**A new chapter coming soon!**

**Thanks For Reading **

**~Blacklove190**


	5. What's wrong with Steven?

**Belly P.O.V**

_Age Thirteen_

No. Anything but this. No.

"What?" Steven said.

"Oh my god." Conrad and I both said under our breath,

I got up fast. I needed to escape. Escape from explaining. I didn't know what to do. What to say. How to act.

Conrad and I looked at each other and then back at Steven. Steven looked at him and then me. This was just scary now. Just Scary.

**Steven P.O.V**

I just stood there in shock. My best friend and my sister. Together? How could this get any worse? I had a ton of emotions swelling up inside me. Anger, shock, and I felt like a shit bag.

I couldn't help but be mad at Belly, even though it was just as much Conrad's fault as Belly's.

"Belly." I said. I felt the angry expression on my face.

Conrad tapped her on the back, and she started to run. Away from this.

"YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM ALL YOUR PROBLEMS!" I yelled to her. I knew she heard me.

**Conrad P.O.V**

We stood there in silence for a few moments and I didn't know what to think. I had just finished kissing Belly, and then Steven comes and tears us apart. Thanks a lot, Steven.

"Steve, listen-," I said to him, but he cut me off.

"What the hell! I knew something was going on and I come to see you like, making out, What the hell!"

I was holding my breath.

I couldn't reply anything. The only thing I could think of was 'sorry' so that's what I said.

"Sorry? You're sorry! You're sorry that you were making out with my baby sister! Dude, she's thirteen! Not fifteen!" He yelled to me. 

That got me fired up.

"You don't seem to care too much about her! She's happy! What's wrong with her being happy?" I yelled back.

"NOTHING! But she doesn't need _you _to be happy!"

I couldn't take it anymore.

"Look what we've been doing to her all summer! Look how we've been excluding her! She has NO friends here in cousins! We're all she's got, and we exclude her and keep her out! Jere tries to include her but you seem to have control over him, and you used to have control over me, but once I break free, and tell her how I really feel about her, you can't have it now can you!"

He remained silent. He was silent because he knew I was right.

He finally said, calmly "I don't make anyone do anything."

"Yes, you do." I replied, just as calm as him.

Belly must have been watching because she came back as soon as our discussion was over.

"Sorry, Steven." She said.

He took a deep breath. I knew she was going to get some heat from this eventually. The only reason she didn't get it now was because I was there.

"Go home, Steven." I told him.

He obeyed and left.

"Sorry." She said to me quietly.

"It's not your fault." I told her.

"Yeah it is."

After that, things were awkward. We talked a little and collected seashells like we did when I was thirteen. I looked at my watch and we were here a good three hours. It was six now and we decided to go back to the house. It wasn't a very talkative walk back.

**Belly P.O.V**

Steven, Conrad, and I really didn't talk much that day. Jeremiah had no clue what was going on and was really annoyed that Steven and Conrad wouldn't hang together. So he just hung around with me.

We went to our neighbor's basketball hoop again and started shooting around. But it was just me and Jeremiah.

"Bells? Can I ask you a question?" He asked.

"Sure." I said, making a lay-up.

"Do you know what happened between Con and Steven?" I knew he'd ask me that eventually.

I wasn't really sure on what to say. Tell him the truth? Lie?

I finally made a decision.

"I do know, but I don't know if I'm aloud to tell anyone."

Jeremiah advanced to begging me now.

"I won't tell!" He told me. I felt like the older one now, even though Jeremiah was a year older than me.

"Did you bring your phone?" He took a breath.

"Just tell me!"

"I'm gonna ask Con if I can tell you!"

He shot his hand into his pocket, grabbed it and gave it to me immediately.

I went up to the side of our neighbor's house and leaned against it.

**On the Phone**

"What do you want, Jere?" Conrad's voice went over the speaker.

"Conrad, it's Belly."

"Hey, Belly."

I cut to the chase.

"Jere really wants to know what's been going on between you and Steven. Should I tell him?"

Conrad didn't answer for a moment.

"Tell him, but don't say we were kissing. Say that we just went to hang out, and Steven thought we were there because we were together, but we weren't and I got pissed at Steven."

"Kay, thanks, Bye."

"Later."

I walked back toward Jeremiah.

"I can tell you." I told him and I said just as Conrad told me to.

He was silent. Did he believe my lie?


	6. Does Jeremiah Know?

**Jeremiah P.O.V**

_Age Fourteen (Belly: Age Thirteen)_

I pressed my lips together, just to think. Was she lying? She had to call Conrad just to ask. If she had something to do with it, then why would she need permission to tell me? Was there something going on? I wondered.

Belly and I didn't play for much longer after that. When we left, I decided to ask Steven. Steven was in his room like he was all day. I knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Steven asked demanding.

"Jere." I answered.

"Come in."

I went into Steven's room.

"Belly told me what happened."

Steven shook his head.

"I don't think she did. What did she say?"

"That her and Con were at the beach this morning and you got all pissed."

He stayed silent for a moment.

"That aint' what happened."

I was quiet and listened.

"I heard Belly laughing this morning and then she left, so I walked over to the beach and I saw-I saw, nothing."

"Wh-What did you see?"

"Nothing!"

"Dude, I may have believed what Belly had said, but I'm not stupid. You saw something. Tell me!"

I put my hands on my hips. It wasn't fair that everyone in the house (besides Laurel and Susannah) knew what was going on. I felt like one of the adults, who would ruin the fun in "spin the bottle" or something.

He sighed.

"I saw belly and Conrad" He stopped "kissing." He said quietly.

I couldn't breathe or move. I stayed immobile for at least ten seconds.

"Are you sure it was Belly and Conrad you saw?" I asked.

"Yeah, kinda I think I know my sister's laugh and what she looks like."

"What about Con?" I asked immediately.

"I got into an argument with him. It was definitely him."

I had a mix of emotions. Anger, Sadness, Confused. Mostly Anger. At Conrad; even though it was just as much Belly's fault as his.

I stormed out of the room.

I loved Belly, now for almost three years. The worst part? Conrad knew that. He knew that I liked Belly. He knew Belly liked him. He knew that he _didn't _like Belly. He knew all of that, and still, he had the nerve to hurt everyone. Me, Belly, Steven and maybe even himself. But he didn't care. He had the nerve not to care. He never _cared _about anything. He never has and probably never will.

I went into Conrad's room.

"Liar!" I yelled at him. That was something I should have yelled at Belly for.

"What the hell?" Conrad said.

**Conrad P.O.V**

I knew what he was yelling at me for. I knew exactly. But I pretended I didn't know. Maybe I'd get away with it

"You know what the hell! You know exactly what's going on!" He yelled at me for.

"No I don't!" I yelled back, lying.

"You know that I'm yelling at you because you and Belly kissed!"

"No we didn't" I said a little bit calmer.

"Liar!" He said.

He picked up a squishy little ball on the floor and threw it at me. He aimed for my head and it probably would have hit my head too if I didn't catch it.

"You're such a liar, eff this and eff you!" He said again.

He walked out. I wasn't sure if he'd go give Belly some heat too. I looked out the door of my room. He just walked down the hall and into his room. I knocked on the door to Belly's room.

"Who is it?" She sounded as if she was in tears. Did Jeremiah go to her room before mine?

"Conrad."

"Come" She paused "In."

I slowly opened the door to see her on the bed. She wasn't crying now, but her tear stained cheeks gave it away, that she was crying before.

**Another Hang! **

**Thanks For Reading!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! **

**~Blacklove190 :D**


	7. It's Over

**Belly P.O.V**

_Age Thirteen_

"Hey, what's wrong?" Conrad asked me.

I hated this. I'd lie to him, but I knew he'd see right through it. He did most of the time.

"I-uh-I" I couldn't think of anything to say.  
>"Jeremiah's pissed." He said to me, without even thinking of waiting for an answer from me.<p>

I nodded. "I know." I stopped and thought.

What's the point of us dating if we can't even be together? Everyone in the house is all pissed. The only one who might support this is Susannah. Everyone else would like, throw tomatoes at us or something.

"Maybe we should-" I stopped, hoping for him to know what I was about to say.

"Yeah. I'm thinking the same thing." He replied.

_Breathe Belly, Breathe. _I told myself.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Why are you sorry? This was my fault entirely." Even though it was just as much his fault, I didn't want him to feel bad.

"No it's not. It's my fault; I was the one who started this. You just followed like you always do. Same old Belly." I guess I did kinda follow him a lot.

When we were little, I remember following him around all the time. Back then, he accepted me following him around, and paid attention to me. Now, I just followed what he did, and he ignored it, or teased me about it.

"Yeah. I guess." I shrugged.

"We're friends though, right?" He asked.

"Always." I answered, smiling.

"Always."

He walked out, and a few minutes later, I walked out the same as he did. I decided to go into Jeremiah's room.

"Hey." I said as I came in.

He looked more sad then angry.

"You know?" He shook his head.

"Well it's over." I told him, and his head shot up to look at me.

"What do you mean, 'it's over'?" He asked and I told him what happened.

"I'm sorry." He replied, but he was definitely jumping up and down inside.

"It's fine. We're not right for each other anyways." I lied.

He shrugged, "Yeah, I didn't think so either."

**A new chapter will be out when I hear from you guys about what you want me to do. I'm not sure whether or not to continue this in their teenage years (Belly is like sixteen or seventeen) or continue at this age, please tell me, what to do with it, cause' I don't know what I wanna do. **

**Thanks!**

**~Blacklove190**


	8. Back to Normal

**Author's Note: Hey! I decided to make it when they were older, because I think I'll be able to do more with that. And also, part of this chapter is kinda boring, cause' it's just a fill in for what's going to happen, in the next chapter.**

**Belly P.O.V**

_Age Sixteen _

"Wow, it's been so many years." I said.

"I know four years really goes by fast." He replied.

Jeremiah and I were sitting on the front porch of the summer house. It seemed like forever since I was thirteen. We were looking at a huge photo album that Susannah kept in the summer house. Most of the pictures were of Conrad and Jeremiah during the school years, but she had a "section of summer" as Jeremiah called it. In "The section of summer", there was pictures of Steven, Laurel and I.

"Do you remember when you and Con went out when we were younger?" He said, teasingly

"Shut up we were so little. That was when Conrad was going into high school, this year he's going to be a senior! That was like a million years ago." I knew it felt like a million years.

"You were going to be an eighth grader, right?" Jeremiah recalled.

"Yup." I told him

He nodded in remembrance.

I tugged my jean shorts down a little. It did feel like forever. Sometimes I wonder if Conrad still thinks of me that way. But then I think, 'It was four years ago, of course he doesn't.' We didn't know what "love" is and honestly, I still barley do. I mean is a first love someone you liked and they liked you back, or is it someone you liked in general? I still am confused about that even though I'm sixteen now. Conrad was probably confused about it when we were that age, he was fifteen. He might have known, but I know, I didn't.

I slipped my pink flip-flops back on, and then went back inside. "Hey, where you going?" Jeremiah asked.

"I'm gonna change and go to the beach." Jeremiah got up with the photo album in his hands.

"Sounds good, can I come?" He asked, as if saying no was a possibility.

"Yeah, change."

Jeremiah and I got changed pretty quickly, and we both headed off to the beach. Before we left the house, Steven commented, "Gotten over Con already?" I was so shocked. He never brought that up to me for four years. He must overheard Jeremiah and I outside. Ugh, Steven is so annoying. Why was this day filled with something that happened four years ago?

Jeremiah and I hopped in the car with a few beach towels and chairs. When we got there, we grabbed the towels and chairs.

We walked over to the bottom of the boards, which were only a few feet away from the car.

"Wanna race?" He asked.

"We're not twelve." I reminded.

"So what? Wanna Race?" He asked again.

"Sure, why not?" I said, and I put a few of the towels back in the car, only holding mine and a chair.

Conrad, Steven, Laurel and Susannah could grab them from the car when they decided to come.

Jeremiah put one leg in front of him and the other one behind him, like he was an Olympic racer. I giggled.

"Ready, Set go!" He yelled.

He raced halfway up the boards before realizing I didn't run, I just laughed at him.

"Hey! No fair!" He yelled down to me, laughing.

"How is that not fair? You're winning!" I yelled back to him, laughing just as hard.

"Cause' I look like an idiot running up the boards." I started to walk up the boards, following him.

"You always look like an idiot." I commented, smiling.

He smiled too. "Thanks, love you too, Belly." I snickered.

We walked up the other half of the boards before our feet touching the burning sand.

"run!" He yelled, and started to run, this time I followed.

I dropped my chair and towel right next to where he dropped his towel, and we both dove into the ocean. When I came up, a wave hit me, as I wiped my eyes.

I wiped out on shore. Jeremiah saw the whole thing.

"Ouch." I groaned.

"You cool?" He asked from the ocean.

I heaved myself up. "Yeah, but that must have been hilarious to watch."

"It wasn't." He lied

"It totally was, admit it," I said, coming back into the water.

"Okay, it kinda was." He admitted.

I smiled. "Yeah, I know." He smiled too.

I went under a couple waves.

"This is so nice!" He shouted, flipping onto his back.

He didn't notice a big wave that was coming, and it broke on him. After I came back up, I couldn't see Jeremiah anywhere.

I started to freak out after a couple moments.

"Jere?"

"Jeremiah!"

"Stop, Jere, you're freaking me out!" And right at that moment, Jeremiah came up from under me, me sitting on his shoulder as he held my legs, and then he let go, flipping me. I hit the water with a 'smack'.

I came up, gasping for air.  
>"Jerk!" I yelled, but I wasn't really angry.<p>

"Like I said before, Love you too." He smiled.

"I'm going to tan." I said, and started to swim toward the shore.

"Have Fun." He said.

I put sunscreen on because I was sure to fall asleep on a beach towel, and I did.

I woke up, with Conrad sitting in a beach chair next to me. Jeremiah and Steven were in the ocean.

"Hey, you're up." Conrad said, without facing me.

"Yup." I replied.

"How was your sleep?" He asked.

"Are you acting weirder than usual?" I asked him, smiling.

"Yup." He replied.

"Why?"

"Cause." He answered.

I moved my beach towel and set up my beach chair next to Conrad's. We both sat there for a few minutes before I said:

"Can you drive me back?"

"No way, walk yourself."

"Please?" I asked again.

"Fine, but only cause' I gotta pee."

We both went down the boards and into Conrad's car. The car ride was silent, and I decided to sit in the back seat instead of shotgun. I never sat in the front of Conrad's car. Even when Jeremiah wasn't there. I was just used to the back of it.

When we got back to the house, I pulled out the peanut butter and apple and started to eat.

"How can you eat that?" He commented.

"Eat what?" I asked my mouth full.

"Ew, peanut butter." He pulled a pack of skittles out of the cabinet.

"You're just like Taylor." I told him.

"How?" He popped a few in his mouth.

"Like that." I pointed to the bag of skittles in his hand.

"Just cause' Taylor likes skittles doesn't mean I'm just like Taylor." He reminded.

"No, she hates peanut butter too."

"So, I must be Taylor's twin!" He said sarcastically, and I stuck my tongue out at him childishly.

"You going back to the beach?" I asked him.

"Nah, it's all good." He plopped himself on the couch and turned the TV on.

"Cool." I said, racing up the stairs.

I went up into my room on my laptop that I got for Christmas from my dad. I went on my Aim and Taylor was logged on.

_Taylor: Hey, what's up?_

_Me: Nothing. Conrad is so much like you. _

_Taylor: Oh, here you go again…Conrad this, Conrad that, Conrad, Conrad, Conrad. What about Jeremy? Is he still cute?_

_Me: His name is JEREMIAH and I don't know, I guess. _

_Taylor: Send me pic. _

I looked through my phone for a good picture of Jeremiah. I didn't think I had one, but when I kept looking I saw one, a really good one. He was by the pool, and his 6 pack reflected the sun off of it, and he looked like a god. I didn't know whether or not to send it to her. I didn't.

_Me: Sorry, no good pics. _

_Taylor: Shit, get one! _

_Me: Why?_

_Taylor: I wanna know if he's cute, and make it shirtless, please. _

_Me: okay, Taylor, I'll see what I can do. _

_Taylor: A.S.A.P?_

_Me: A.S.A.P._

_Taylor: Yay!_

"Belly, you wanna go in the pool?" I heard a yell from downstairs, coming from Jeremiah.

"Yeah, sure, hold on!" I yelled back.

_Me: Gotta go, luv ya._

I quickly logged off and ran down the stairs. I walked outside slowly.

"Hey." I said.

"Coming in?" Jeremiah asked.

Before I answered, I jumped in. I was completely submerged and I started to swim around underwater. My when my lungs were out of air, I came to the surface.

"Are anyone else's nuts killing them?" Conrad complained.

They were so gross.

"I don't know, hey Belly, are your nuts killing you?" Steven asked. Same old Steven.

"Fuck up." I said, as I glared at him.

"Okay, no need to get all defensive." Steven said. I swam around some more, and I wondered how I'd feel if I didn't tell Steven to fuck up. Probably pretty crappy.

Being in the pool with them only lasted a half hour before I decided to tan again. I fell asleep on one of the chairs Susannah had by a coffee table.

I woke up to Jeremiah poking me saying:

"Belly, Belly, Belly, Belly, Belly, Belly." Over and over again.

"What." I groaned.

"Hi." He was laughing. I was up and I wasn't going back to sleep, I didn't want to.

"You're so annoying." I told him.

"Thank you." He accepted it as a compliment.

I got up and went back into the house.

It was about 6:30, and Susannah wanted to make something for dinner. I would have helped her, but I knew that the dinner wouldn't turn out as good if I helped. Susannah was amazing at cooking, and I wasn't, I was good at basketball, and dancing, but never cooking or singing or something like that.

"Hey, Susannah." I said.

"Hi." She replied. "So, tell me what's going on?" I started to wonder.

"With what?" I asked, clueless.

"With your mom and dad." She asked, sitting down at a table in the kitchen.

"Nothing, which I know of." I replied.

"Oh,"

"Why, what do you think's going on?" I asked.

"Nothing, nothing." She replied.

"No, please tell."

"I don't know that's why I was asking you."

"But why do you suspect something's going on?" Now, I was curious.

"I don't know, just because your mother has been talking about him a lot lately."

"So what?" I asked again. "Mom and Dad always talked, they're friends."

"I don't know if it's just that, sweetie." I laughed.

"I think it is, Suze." I replied.

She smiled. "Go get the boys, it's time for dinner."

**Okay, I told you, kinda boring, no big things going on just yet, but there will be soon. **

**Thanks For Reading **

**~Blacklove190**


	9. The Party

**Hey, so I'm trying to update a little bit faster due to the fact I've been hanging out with guys lately, and they give me some "lines" and stuff that I can put into these chapters to make them better so YAY! :) And also, um in the books, Steven's girlfriend's name was Claire, right? Because I put her name in this, and I'm like 99% sure that's her name. If it's not, I meant Steven's girlfriend **

Belly P.O.V

_Age Sixteen _

I went and got the boys, and the dinner was amazing, as always. After dinner, Conrad and Jeremiah were outside, and Steven was going up the stairs. When he reached the top he said:

"Hey, Belly, can you come here." Steven asked.

"Uh, sure." I replied.

"Do you think something's going on with mom and dad?" Did he hear what Susannah and I were talking about?

"Susannah asked the same question. I didn't think so until you guys said something could be up."

"Yeah, well what do you think it is?" He asked.

"I have no idea. Do you?"

"Nope."

"Then why do you think something's up?" I asked him again.

"I don't know they've been talking a lot and hanging out and stuff. I think they're getting closer." He said, and I thought of Susannah's answer, she said almost the same thing.

"Susannah said the same thing." I noted.

"Do you think they're getting back together?" He seemed so hopeful, but I doubted it.

"I don't know Mom and Dad have always been friends after the divorce for our sake. I doubt they're getting back together. Maybe they're just becoming closer friends."

"I don't think anyone can just be friends like that." He seemed kinda werided out by the fact that they're "friends".

"Sure they can!" I whisper yelled. "Look at me, Conrad and Jeremiah. There's nothing going on, and we're pretty close."

"Yeah, but you did go out with Conrad when you were twelve."

"That was like a million years ago, and for your information, I was thirteen, get your facts straight." I joked, but I knew he wasn't joking.

"This isn't about you! It's about mom and dad, their divorce, their marriage, their friendship." He seemed angry now, and I didn't know why, maybe it was because he _knew _they weren't getting back together, and he was just setting his hopes too high.

"Alright, Steven, calm down, I'm sorry, I don't think they're getting back together."

"Whatever, but when they do, I'm gonna say I told you so!" He said, turning around and walking into his room.

I tried my best to ignore what Steven was saying.

I went back outside, and the air was hot and humid. Jeremiah was sitting by the ledge of the pool, letting his feet dangle in the water. Conrad wasn't outside anymore. I guess he went in.

"Hey Bells." Jeremiah said when he saw me.

"Hi."

"What you doing tonight?" He asked me, getting up, taking his feet out of the water.

"Nothing really, staying at the house, why?"

"You wanna go to a party?" I've only been to like one or two parties here, not many.

"Sure, why not? Is Con and Steven coming?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's at Steven's friend, April's house." He replied.

I've heard Steven talk about April before. I think April was his girlfriend at one point when he and Claire were on a break. I never met April, but she seemed kinda cool the way Jeremiah has described her.

"Oh, yeah, April, I remember her."

"You do? You haven't even met her."

"Well you guys told me about her." I reminded. He shrugged.

"So, you coming or not?" He asked.

"Sure."

"Cool." He went back into the house and I followed.

"Yeah, you come in the house when I do." Jeremiah teased.

"Oooh, Belly's got a crush." Conrad joked, coming up the stairs from the basement.

I felt my face flush.

"Shut up." I said, smiling. "Look your face is all red." Steven said, facing the TV.

"How would you know? You're not even looking at me. You're too interested watching the last season of American Idol." I teased back.

He looked over at me, just to say, "I didn't need to, your face _is_ all red."

I decided to change the subject.

"Whoa, Jere, what color are your eyes? Yesterday they looked brown, now they look blue." I told him.

"Really?" He widened his eyes.

I laughed.

"My eyes are orange." Conrad said from behind me, and I stupidly turned around.

He started to laugh. "Only Belly would turn around. You can't have orange eyes Belly." He said, and I smiled.

"Unless you have orange contacts." Jeremiah and I said at the same time.

There was a silence. "When's the party?" I asked Jeremiah.

"C'mon dude, you invited her to the party?" Steven said, getting up, annoyed.

"Yeah, she's been to parties in cousins before." Jeremiah stated.

"When I'm not there." Steven said, getting himself a water bottle from the fridge.

"You're always there." I told him, because he was.

"Yeah you went to like one party, the rest of them you didn't go because I went."

"Eff off." I mumbled loud enough for him to hear.

He just rolled his eyes. I went up the stairs and got changed. I put on a really cute pink tank-top and white short-shorts. I went back down the stairs, and the three guys were all squished onto the little couch watching American Idol like Steven was before. Jeremiah was first to notice.

"Belly going the sexy way, huh?" He joked.

I laughed.

"Guess so." I replied.

He smiled.

"What are you guys watching?" I asked, like I didn't know.

I walked behind the couch that they were all squished on.

"American Idol. Shh!" Conrad said, as his eyes undressed Lauren, a girl who made it to the final two.

"Ah, still staring at Lauren, ah, Con?" Susannah said, as she came out from the bathroom.

"Ha!" Steven laughed, pointing at Conrad and Conrad hit him arm and left a red blotch. Steven ignored it.

Once the show was over, the three boys struggled to get up all at once. Once Steven made it off the couch, he said,

"That Lauren chick is amazing."

"I know," Conrad agreed, "She's a real babe too."

"Yeah, Con, you can tell how you were undressing her with your eyes." I told.

"Shut up, Jeremiah's lover girl." He said, and I smiled in a way that said shut-up-, jerk, but I didn't really care. Anything was better than them knowing my true love for Conrad.

"Jere, what time's the party?" I changed the subject again.

"Nine." It was only 8:00.

"Cool." I nodded.

**At 9:00**

"C'mon Steve! We're leaving!" Jeremiah yelled up to him, and I was already out the door, sitting in the back of Conrad's car. Conrad was in the front. He put his arm around the passenger seat, and put one hand on the wheel. "Roooooooom, roooom." He made the sound affects as if he were driving. He then did that upside down nod thing to the passenger seat. I wasn't sure if he knew if I was in the back.

I decided to scare him. "Hi." I said, and it definitely startled him.

"Belly! Don't do that!"

I started laughing, and couldn't stop.

"Yeah, it's real funny, Conrad hit on invisible girls, yeah, yeah." He said, and I just laughed harder.

"Hey, at least I don't sit in the back." I shrugged.

"It's more comfortable back here." I lied.

He took the top off the car, and Steven and Jeremiah came out. "Baby's still sittin' in the back?" Steven said, smiling.

Steven jumped in the front before Jeremiah could, so Jeremiah ended up in the back with me.

"Belly's hoping to steal some hearts tonight, right belly?" Jeremiah looked at me, raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"You're such a dork." I said, and laughed.

"Thank you." He said, and smiled.

The party was five minutes away from the house and we were there before no time. Conrad parked the car only a few feet away from the house, and the first thing I saw of it was a boy, who looked like he was at least nineteen, chugging down beer. This was one of those I-want-my-mommy moments where I wanted to just cling to someone's leg, and pretend I was too small to be seen.

Jeremiah saw the worry in my eyes and he put his arm around me. "You'll be okay." He assured me. "Just play it cool. Stay close to me." I nodded slightly.

We walked in April's enormous backyard. They're were tables and tables of spin the bottle and people kissing and touching. At least half the people here were totally wasted, and if they weren't they were on their way by drinking ten bottles of beer.

A girl with light brown long hair came over to us. She was wearing a periwinkle jacket, with a hot pink sports bra under it, and jean short-shorts.

"Hey, April." Conrad said.

_This _was April? If she dated Steven, she must be drunk.

"Hey Connie!" She slurred. I was right. Drunk.

"Hey, Jerry, is this your baby," She said, referring to me. "She's pretty sexy. I could just touch her right now, how do you stand it?" Jeremiah blushed.

Steven stepped in, "Hey, April, no, she's not Jere's girlfriend, she's my sister."

"Oh, hey, well any sister of Steve's is a sister of mine." She said, with her dark green eyes facing me.

This was a drunken _girl _we're talking about. If she was asking how she could _not _touch me, I was scared of what the guys would be like.

We walked away from her, I whispered in Jeremiah's ear,

"Jere, I'm scared."

He laughed like he was drunk. "That's just April, April always does that type of thing. You'll be okay, just stay by me." I wanted to trust Jeremiah, but I was afraid to.

Jeremiah, Conrad, and Steven all sat by the bar. I followed. "Want a beer?" Jeremiah popped the cap off the bottle, and I had a feeling, this wasn't going to be good.

"Jere, this could get bad."

"Nah, it won't. You have me to rely on, remember?" He took a swig of the beer.

"But what if you get wasted?" I asked.

"Nah, I'd never." He said, and a siren went off in my head, and I knew I couldn't trust Jeremiah anymore, but I nodded anyway, just to keep him thinking he was protecting me.

A boy's voice rang through the nearest speakers as someone spoke into a mike. "Anyone wants do some karaoke?"

"Belly does!"Jeremiah offered,

"No, I really don't." I said.

"Of course she does! Belly! Belly! Belly! Belly!" Jeremiah started to chant, and Steven and Conrad joined in.

"I guess Belly it is!" Some guy came over to me and rushed me on the stage. I had a horrible voice, how was I going to do this? Make it funny?

"What you wanna sing tonight, Belly Button?" The guy asked.

"Nothing." I said under my breath, but since I was holding a microphone, people heard.

A wave of laughter traveled through April's backyard.

"Oh, c'mon Belly, we're having fun, pick a song!" The guy said.

"Belly! Belly! Belly! Belly!" Conrad, Steven, and Jeremiah continued to chant.

I was outnumbered. "Fine, can I sing "Last Friday Night" By Katy Perry?" The guy smiled.

"Sure. K-Per in the house"

_K-Per? _

"There's a stranger in my bed, there's a pounding in my head, glitter all over the room pink flamingos in the pool I smell like a minibar, DJ's passed out in the yard, Barbies on the barbecue, is this a hickey or a bruise?" I started to sing, and I knew I sucked, but everyone was clapping and cheering me on. I guess this was fun.

"Pictures of last night ended up online, I'm screwed oh well." I looked over at the three boys, and there was already three empty beer bottles on the counter of the bar. They were all on their second bottle.

"It's a blacked out blur, but I'm pretty sure it ruled, damn, last Friday night, yeah, we danced on table tops, and we took too many shots think we kissed but I forgot last Friday night yeah we maxed our credit cards and got kicked out of the bars so we hit the boulevard, this Friday night do it all again!" I started to speak. "Okay, I'm done now." I handing the guy the mike back.

"You weren't too horrible, Belly." The guy said, and I smiled. "Thanks." I said back, but I wasn't really paying attention. "Anytime babe." He said, and now I was completely out of it. I couldn't find Jeremiah, Conrad or Steven, and last time I saw them they were pretty drunk.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, oh shit." I said under my breath.

"BELLY!" Jeremiah said and threw his arms around me. I knew it. Wasted. For a second it looked like he went to touch me, but I slapped him away.

"Jere, are you drunk?" I asked him.

"Wellll, yeah, duh, it's a party man! So's Con and Steve!" I grabbed his wrist and I set off to find them. Who knew three people could get so drunk in barley two minutes.

"Con!" Jeremiah yelled.

"Jere?" Conrad said, questionably.

"Conrad! You're not drunk! Are you?" I asked.

"No, no, Jere looks pretty drunk though." He said, eyeing Jeremiah.

"What about Steven?" I asked.

"Wasted." He told me.

"Maybe we should just go home before anything gets worse." I said,

"Bells, you know I would, but just because I aint' completely wasted, doesn't mean I didn't have a couple beers. I can't drive like this. You drive."

"Are you kidding? I only have my permit, I can't drive a car unless there's an adult in the car!" I said, and I was scared for my life. All four of our lives were in danger.

"You have to try," He said, and I knew he was right, but I didn't know if I'f completely screw up and end our lives.

"What if I-" He cut me off.

"Belly! Do it!" He demanded, and now I had to, before anything got any worse than what it was.

"Okay!" I yelled.

Jeremiah was drunker then Steven was. Conrad was pretty much carrying Jeremiah and Steven was stumbling all over the place. We threw them in the back seat of the car. Conrad jumped in the passenger seat and I went into the driver's seat.

I started to drive. People were hanging out windows to other cars, and it seemed I was the only one who was trying to stay focused on the road.

"Belllllllllllllllllllllllly." I heard Jeremiah say from the backseat.

"What." I said still trying to focus.

"Can we go all the way when we get back at the house?"

"What? Jeremiah! No!" I yelled, and I looked over at Conrad, to see his expression.

"Don't look at me! Look at the road!" He said when he realized.

I couldn't pay attention anymore. What did that mean? Did he like me? Did he love me? What!

I lost my attention and lost control of the car. A drunk driver crashed into us and the windshield shattered in my direction. I blurred out.

**A really big hang!**

**Noo!**

**I changed it from before, because I didn't really like the last sentence (like the words I used and stuff,) so I changed it**

**New chapter will be up A.S.A.P I swear!**

**~Blacklove190**


	10. Emergancies

**Hey! I just have to say, thanks sooo much to everyone that reads this story and the nice reviews! Thanks sooo much **

**Belly P.O.V**

I blinked my eyes open.

"Mmmm." I heard myself mumble.

"She's waking up." I heard someone whisper.

"Wh-where am I?" I heard myself stutter.

"Honey, you're in the emergency room." It was my dad.

"Am, am I okay?"

He smiled. "You're gonna be fine, you lost a lot of blood." He told me. I felt like Bella in Twilight.

"Where's Conrad? and Jeremiah? and Steven?" I mumbled.

"Jeremiah and Steven didn't get as hurt as you guys, and they'll be okay, but they're in a lot of legal trouble. As for Conrad…." His voice trailed off.

"Wh-what's wrong with Conrad?" I asked nervously.

"He's hurt." I felt myself jump up out of my bed; I lost my balance and fell back onto the bed.

"Belly, they're doing everything they can for him." He told me and he started to rub my arm.

"Just tell me what's wrong with him." My eyes filled up with tears.

"He needs surgery. He got glass in his chest, and he was a little drunk, remember?"

A tear shot down my cheek. "Yes, is he gonna be alright? Is he gonna" I stopped, "Leave?" I looked into my dad's warm eyes.

"They don't know. Since it's in his chest, they don't know whether or not it affected his heart." He told me, and I panicked.

"No! No, Dad! No! You're lying to me! He's gonna be fine! He's not that hurt! Stop lying!" I screamed, and now I was sobbing.

The nurse came over. "Honey, listen, Conrad's condition was worse than yours, your brothers, and your friend's. But think of it this way, there were people with worse conditions then Conrad's and they survived. It's a 25/75 chance." She told me, and I immediately said,

"Which chance is the one he'll live?"

She chuckled. "The 75, sweetie. All we could do is hope for the best. Get your rest, now." I looked over at my dad, and he nodded.

"Dad, where's mom?"

"She's with Steven. Mr. Fisher's with Jeremiah and Susannah's with Conrad." I nodded.

"Okay." I said.

"Get your rest, sweetie." My Dad said, kissed my forehead and left the room.

I nodded, but I knew I couldn't sleep now. Not that I knew Conrad could die. Not that I knew he might not make it.

He had to be okay. He just had to.

"Nurse." I said, "I'll get my rest in a moment, can I have that pad and a pencil please?"

She nodded and brought them over to me. I threw the covers off me to see that my right leg was bandaged up, and so was my left arm. Good thing I was a righty. I took the pencil to the pad and I started to write.

_Dear Conrad,_

_Hey, right now, were in the emergency room. We just got into a really bad car accident. The windshield shattered on us. I was driving even though I'm only sixteen. You said you couldn't drive because you were too drunk. Jeremiah and Steven were totally wasted. Anyways, we're here, and they say you could die and you need surgery. Well I'm writing this to tell you that, I love you. I really, really love you. _

_Ever since I was twelve. I loved you before we went out when I was thirteen, and now I'm sixteen, sitting in a hospital bed, with tears rolling down my cheeks, hoping you'll be alright. I was the driver. This was MY fault this happened. If anyone should have gotten glass in their chest it should have been me. Don't die on me, Conrad. Please, please PLEASE. You just can't. Can't. I hope the surgery goes well. _

_Please, be strong. _

_Love, Belly_

I read the note over and over and over again before putting it down on the table beside my bed.

"Thank You." I said to the nurse before lying down.

"No problem, Belly."

Tears were still rolling down my cheeks as I feel to sleep.

The next morning I woke up, with my eyes swollen.

"Belly? Are you okay?" I heard someone say. My eyes were just about swollen shut, but I opened them of what I could and I saw a face. It was Jeremiah.

"I'm- I'm fine. What happened with you?" I said, sleepily.

"I'm in trouble for being so drunk, but let's not talk about that. Let's talk about what's going on."

"Okay, did Con have his surgery yet?" I asked, tiredly.

"Oh, you knew about that? Yeah, it went okay." He told me.

"Just okay? Is he okay?" I asked, with precaution.

"No, okay isn't the word. I meant good. The surgery went really well." He told me, and the feeling of worry went away, and I let the feeling of relief in.

"Is he awake yet?" I asked, warmly.

"Um, no. The surgery went well. But Conrad's….um…." His voice trailed off like my dad's did. Relief was suddenly gone and worry came back.

I sat up and said. "No, what's going on! Why does everyone but me know what's happening!" I said, and my swollen eyes let a few tears fall.

"Conrad's in a coma. If he doesn't wake up in two days…." He paused. "We lost him." He told me, whispering the last sentence. Tears fell from his eyes too.

"Jere, you're kidding. Please, tell me you're kidding." I said.

He let me hug him. "No, I'm sorry. I'm not." We both started sobbing in each other's arms.

"Let's just hope for the best, and if we lose him, well always have his memory." He said, ending the hug.

"mmhmm." I replied.

"we're gonna be okay." He said.

"I know, it's just that, I'm so worried about him." I said.

"I am too." He said, and he held my hand.

"I really hope he wakes up." I said, quietly.

"Me too." He said in a breathy tone.

He leaned forward, there was no more talking. I leaned back, and our lips touched almost instantly. It was like magic. I suddenly remembered when I was kissing Conrad, and how awkward it was back then, but not with Jeremiah. All he had to do was lean forward and you knew right away what was going on, and you couldn't help but except his offer.

Our lips parted when we both needed air. "After you and Con get better, and Steven and I are bailed out of jail, you wanna go catch a movie or something?" He asked.

I smiled. "Sure. I look forward to it.

**Yay! Okay, I'm sorry to say, it might be a while until the next chapter is up unfortunately. Sorry about that. **

**PLEASE REVIEW! **

**~Blacklove190**


	11. The Shocker

**A/N: What you've all been waiting for…..THE NEWEST CHAPTER! YAY! I was able to finish it early (: yay (:**

**Belly P.O.V**

_Age Sixteen_

I was only in the hospital another night, the next morning I changed and was getting ready to go back to the house. I then remembered Jeremiah's words.

"_If he doesn't wake up in two days, we lost him." _

I walked over to Conrad's room and Susannah was sitting on a bench right outside the room, looking devastated.

"Suze?"

She jumped, and I guess I scared her. "Oh, Hi Belly." I sat next to her on the bench.

"How's Conrad doing?" I asked her.

"He's…" Tears streamed down her cheeks and it seemed too painful for her to say it out loud.

"Jeremiah told me. It's okay. You don't have to say it if you don't want to." I was trying to be comforting, but I didn't know what to say exactly because I was in the same position as she was.

"I'm so worried. I really hope he's alright."

"Me too."

"Well, if we lose him I'll still have you Jeremiah and Steven to be my little kids." She smiled wearily at me.

"We're not going to lose him." I told her. "Belly, you don't know what's going to happen, but whatever happens, we're like family, and we'll have each other through it."

I smiled. "Susannah, we're leaving the summer house after Conrad gets better, right?"

She nodded slightly. "I don't want to risk anything like this happening again this summer." She started to cry. I hugged her, and she started to sob loudly.

"He'll be okay, Susannah. We have to believe that."

A doctor came out of Conrad's room. "Mrs. Fisher," The doctor said, and I had a feeling this was going to be the end.

Susannah looked up, and she looked a little bit more frazzled now that the doctor said something. I think she thought it was the end too. I looked into Conrad's room. He wasn't awake.

"How's he doing?" She asked, sounding very weak.

"Conrad condition remains the same, his heart is still beating and he's still breathing, but he continues to remain unconscious. Fortunately, the chances of him living are greater than the chances of him passing, but we hold the fear he might become a vegetable in the end."

Susannah nodded, understandingly.

"Do you wanna come in and see your son?" He asked her.

She nodded. I started to follow her, and then the doctor said,

"No other visitors aloud, I'm sorry."

"Belly's like his sister. She's a victim of the accident as well." Susannah told the doctor. The doctor glared at me and let me in grudgingly.

"I'll give you guys a little time." He said, and left the room along with all the other doctors and nurses.

Susannah started to talk to him. "Hi, Conrad." She said, quietly. "I love you so much." She said. "I remember the day that you first started talking." She started to get tears in her eyes. "You said, 'I love you, Mommy.' And I hugged you. I remember having so much love for you, and now even though I don't show it as often, I love you just as much." I got tears in my eyes and started crying myself.

"Belly, you wanna say anything?" I nodded slightly and started to walk toward Conrad's bed making putting Susannah behind me.

"Hey, Con." I said. "So, you're breathing, and your heart's beating." I looked over at Susannah, watching my every move and following my every word. I wasn't really sure what to say.

I reached into my pocket, and I felt the edge of the paper on the note I wrote to him two days ago. I wanted to give it to him, but I wasn't sure if I should. I felt my hand slide out of my pocket, gripping the note, but then I remembered what I wrote in it:

_I love you. _

My fingers suddenly let go of the note and it fell on the floor. I let it lie there.

I tried to continue what I was saying.

"and now, you're in a coma." I breathed out. "I hope you're okay." And at that very moment, I think a miracle hit Conrad in the head. His fingers started to curve into a fist.

I turned around and looked at Susannah, and she was looking at me. She walked up next to me and grabbed my hand.

His eyes blinked open. "Doctor!" Susannah called.

"Wher-where am I?" He asked.

"You're in the hospital." Susannah almost whispered.

"What's the last you remember?" She asked.

He was looking up, not even at us. "I-I remember getting into the car, and a yellow car crashing into us. Are those guys okay?" He said, and I didn't even occur to me that they could have been hurt too.

"We don't know." She said.

"Am I gonna be okay?" He said, sounding weak.

Susannah didn't answer and neither did I. "Mom?" He asked.

"Where's the doctor?" I almost whispered.

"Yes!" Susannah blurted out. "Where's that doctor?" Conrad reached over and pressed the red button that signaled the doctor to come. I think Conrad didn't want his question to be answered anymore.

The door handle twisted and the doctor came into the room.

"What is the problem, Mrs. Fi-?" The doctor cut himself off when he noticed Conrad sitting up in his bed.

"Hi."

"Oh, I see you're awake." The doctor said, and he seemed a little worried.

"Yeah." He said and looked at the doctor. "I'm gonna be okay? Right?" He asked.

"Right now, we're not sure on what's going to happen. From now you might be okay, you might not. We aren't very sure. Tell us though, how are you feeling."

"Um, pretty good. I can't really feel my left arm, but besides that I feel fine." The doctor nodded. "How does your chest feel?" The doctor asked, writing down something on a clip board.

"My chest?" Conrad asked. Oh right, he didn't know anything happened to his chest. He seemed to move around a little bit, before saying

"A little stiff." The doctor nodded.

"Good." Conrad shrugged.

"Where's Steven and Jeremiah?"

"Jail." I muttered.

"They're in Jail?" He seemed so worried about them when he should have been more worried about himself.

"Honey, they're underage and they were drinking. After you get better we're gonna bail them out." Susannah told him.

"Okay, but why doesn't Laurel just get them out now?"

"Hey, they need to be punished for doing that to you guys." Susannah said. Conrad snickered.

"Yeah it was kinda their fault." He laughed.

"Especially Jeremiah." I muttered under my breath.

I remembered what he said. _Do you wanna go all the way when we get back to the house? _

I shivered and shrugged it off. "As for you, Mr. Fisher." The doctor started. "It seems your left arm is cut badly and a little glass is in it, but your chest is fine." He said.

"My chest?" Conrad asked again. "After one of the neighbors called 911 for you and your friends, an ambulance came and took you guys to the hospital. Steven and Jeremiah only had a few scratches. Isabelle had a procedure done to remove the glass on her arm and her leg and you had a procedure done on your chest, and you didn't wake up until now obviously." The doctor said. I had surgery? I didn't even know that.

"You have to get a procedure done on your left arm, and you'll be fine."

"wait, wait, wait. What if I don't wake up?" Conrad asked. "We hold that fear too." He doctor said with firm eyes. "But we're pretty sure you'll hold through. Isabelle did, and your chest is different from your arm, your chest holds organs, your arm holds muscles." That sounded weird.  
>"When am I going to have this "procedure" done?" Conrad asked. The doctor looked around the room for a moment.<p>

"Tomorrow afternoon." The doctor answered. "Okay, so just to get things straight, I'll most likely be okay?" He asked, and it seemed like he was holding his breath.

"Most likely." The doctor answered. Conrad let out a breath. "Tell us if you need anything." The doctor said, and left the room.

"I'm so happy you're alright." Susannah said. "I know me too. I can't be a vegetable, am I supposed to play guitar?" He said, and Susannah and I snickered.

"I'll be right back." Susannah said and walked out.

"Are you okay?" He asked me.

"A little scratched up." I told him.

"Same here." I moved my arm around, and my arm felt a little stiff too.

"So, do you remember what Jeremiah said to you in the car?" He asked.

I looked at him. _How could I forget? _"A little." I said.

"Aw, our baby Belly was drunk that night too?" He said, and he knew I wasn't.

"I wasn't. I just was concentrating on the road." I protested.

"Really, if you were concentrating on the road so much, then why did we get into a car accident?" He asked, seeing right through my lie.

"It was their fault, not mine! _They _crashed into _us._" I told him.

He rolled his eyes. "Okaaay." He said in a sing-song voice.

"Fine, I remember." I admitted.

He smiled and there was an awkward silence. He then said:

"Did it scare you?"

I smiled and snickered but I then realized he was asking a serious question.

"A little." I told him honestly.

"I was too." I looked at him curiously.

_What was that supposed to mean?_

"Well, I better get back to the house. You know, get my stuff together." I told him.

"Why, we're leaving?" He asked.

I nodded slightly. "Susannah and Laurel don't want to risk anything like this happening again."

"That really sucks."

"I love being down here with you and Steve, it's my favorite time of the year. When you get to just kick back and relax." He continued. I had the same perspective on summer as he did.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Well, I better be getting back to the house, telling them you're going to be fine, and start to pack." I started to turn around to the door.

"Just Laurel," He tried to convince me.

"Just tell Laurel. Tell Jeremiah and Steven I died. I wanna see their reaction."

I chuckled. "Will do, Conrad." I said, and walked out, smiling to myself.

"Watch out, Steven and Jeremiah." I said, under my breath evilly to myself.

Weren't they in for a surprise.

**YAYY! So that's the new chapter :) I can't wait to start the next one! **

**Thanks For Reading! (:**

**~B.L 190**

**By the way, might change my Pen name soon, so if the same story is under the same Pen name, it's probably still me, no worries. (:**


	12. my apology letter to my readers

**Hey guys, whoever in the world is reading this.. I don't expect any of my fans, any of the people who subscribed to this story last year to ever read anything I ever write again because I never continued this story in a year. But in all honesty, I really want to continue it, for multiple reasons. **

**One reason is I loved writing this story and it was definitely one of my favorite stories to ever think about and ever come up with because I was always able to relate to Belly in almost every way and I guess I think of her as myself, especially going through this past year, it's been kinda hard, and I thought I was going through a similar situation that she did with Susannah and her Cancer. (A very close family member of mine was diagnosed during this year) and I really want to be able to write through the eyes of her once again.**

**Another reason is because I have most things in this story planned out pretty well and I know everything I want to do with it and recently I was scrolling through my writings and stuff and I wondered why I never continued it. I never continued because I wrote this during last summer, one of the best summers ever, and once school started, literally the minute it started, I had soo much work, and I was stressed out by the first week of the school year last year, and now although school just started, I'm not very busy and don't have much work to do, yet at least. **

**To all of you, I'm so sorry I let it get to the point where it's been a year until I've updated. I'm sorry I let it be that long, and I'm sorry I made you all forget about this story, and I expect nothing of any of you, none of you have to read anything I write, but if you want to be dedicated and continue to read what I write in this story, that would be so amazing and I thank you so much if you want to do that. At this point, since it's been a year, maybe some of you, if you read my story, can tell me what I did differently, and how my writing style and my writing has improved or not improved, or gotten worse or whatever and I can work from there. **

**Again, I'm insanely sorry I let it get to this, I love you all, everyone who's ever reviewed, read, favorited me, favorited my story, subscribed to me or my writing, thank you all, and I hope you will still read, but if you don't want to I completely understand, and no one is making you.**

**Thank you so much for your understanding and I hope I will update soon, if anyone is here to read.**

**Love,**

**Blacklove190**


	13. Jeremiah

**So if you read my last update, you understand why I updated this story, if you didn't then flip back one chapter and read it(: again, I expect nothing of no one, so no hate(: Thanks again.**

I exited the room, standing with Susannah and she looked at me with a look on her face, and I knew that look. It was a look that told me something, how she was feeling. She was relieved, yet worried at the same time.

"We can't tell Steven and Jeremiah Con's okay." I said to her.

"Why not?"

"Just tell my mom. It's their fault this happened. They deserve some kind of punishment."

"What do you mean?" She asked her eyes full of wonder.

"We're gonna tell them something bad happened."

Her face was blank when she said,

"Oh, Belly, Belly that's not funny."

"Conrad wants us to do it." I half-devilishly smiled.

"Can we please scare them Suze? Please? Please?" I pleaded.

Trust me, I love Jeremiah and my brother, but it was their fault that Conrad might not be okay in the first place. I mean yeah, they made a mistake and I knew they felt guilty as hell for it already, but they needed an extra something. Something that will make them never ever think about even touching a beer can again.

"They already feel guilty for it." She reminded.

"I know, but that doesn't mean they won't ever drink again. We need to do something to teach them that drinking can really get someone hurt, to keep them sober for a while,"

She looked me, understanding my words and thoughts.

"I'm ready to beat the shit out of Jeremiah for doing that as it is and so is your mom to Steven,"  
>"So do it," I said, "Do it, with their own fear."<p>

I slowly walked into the house, my head down, facing the ground, tears rolling down my cheeks. I'm not even sure how I pulled the whole 'fake tears' thing off.

"Belly what, what happened?" Jeremiah quickly ran up to me, grabbing my hand and pulling it away from my face so I couldn't wipe the one tear that was falling.

I shook my head.

"No, no you're lying no," He murmured it.

I shook my head again.

He pulled my head up, making me face him.

His face was red with fury, maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

His teeth were gritted.

"Belly if this a cruel fucking prank end it, now, what's going on with Conrad."

I didn't speak. One side of me was debating to tell him that Conrad was okay and the other side was telling me to continue with the prank, give him the punishment he deserved, and not just jail. I wasn't sure of the whole deal with that, but I knew he was in a lot of legal trouble with it.

"No! Fuck! No!" He punched the wall creating a whole, and I jumped. I was afraid now. This was a terrible idea. Why did we do this?! I guess he took me not speaking as saying Conrad wasn't okay.

I turned to look back at Susannah, and her eyes were filled with fear as well. The ran up to him fast and grabbed his wrists, and he put his head on her shoulder.

"Conrad's fine, he's okay." She said.

"He is?" He questioned, sounding no bigger than five years old.

She shook her head, "He just woke up,"

"He did?"

"Then why did Belly?" He turned to me.

"Why was she crying?"

"She was happy." Susannah immediately covered for me.

"She didn't look too happy."

"I couldn't speak.. I was too choked up."

"Oh, Belly," He was almost smiling and walked up to me and pulled me into a hug.

I felt really bad at this point. I made Jeremiah so angry over a stupid prank, and now he was hugging me. Guilt filled my head and my heart, and I looked at Susannah. She shrugged.

Laurel walked into the kitchen and immediately noticed the hole in the wall.

"Ugh, what happened?" She came in, and smoothed her hand over the hole. It wasn't small.

She looked at me, then at Jeremiah, then back at me.

"I-I," Jeremiah stuttered, but I kept my mouth shut.

"Jere, did you do this?" Her eyes looked right at him and he blushed and looked at the ground.

"Maybe.." He muttered to himself.

"Ugh, Jeremiah,"

She continued to examine the hole in the wall.

"Laur, it's really fine, it's nothing that we can't fix, I'm sure there's an extra patch we can put on the wall and paint over it."

That's Susannah for you, always looking on the bright side of everything.

"Do we have the same color paint?" Laurel asked.

"I'm sure there's some in the garage, it's really no big deal."

We all pushed off the subject of the hole Jeremiah punched into the wall.

"Well I'm gonna go visit Con, you wanna come Belly?"

I nodded quickly, and made my way to the front door, opening it with ease and waiting for Jeremiah to close it. I looked at my surroundings and didn't see the convertible I always see sitting here in this driveway. That car was shot. Broken, damaged, and I knew I'd never see it here again, I sighed with my own grief knowing I'd kinda miss that car.

Jeremiah hopped into the front seat of his Jeep and I hopped in next to him. Thank god we didn't take this car to April's party.

I watched him shove the key into the slot and turn it, and the car roared as he started it. He pressed his foot on the gas and had both hands on the steering wheel. Whenever Jeremiah and I are in this car, normally, we'd have loud music playing and we'd be screaming to the long song all over town. Some people would look at us like we were the coolest people in the world, others would think we were freaks, but in this car, we were freaks. We'd have the best time, but that's always in Jeremiah's car.

But not now. We didn't look at each other, speak with each other, neither of us dare to touch the radio. This wasn't a fun car ride, it wasn't supposed to be. It can't be.

Jeremiah pulled into the hospital parking lot and into a parking space. The Jeep revved off. He pulled the keys out and leaned back in his seat. He didn't move, so neither did I.

This was the first time he spoke since we got into the car.

I heard him breathe in, "Belly,"

I didn't look in his direction and I didn't answer either.

"So um.. us." He asked.

"What about us?" It almost sounded like a whisper, but it wasn't, my voice was soft, but lightly shaking.

"Belly, do you wanna.." He cut himself off and then I remembered something.

Then something crossed my mind. That note I wrote to Conrad. It's in my pocket right?

I lightly reached into my pocket, but didn't feel the corner of the folded paper. I reached into the other, and still felt nothing, where the fuck is it?!

"Belly, do you wanna go…" He continued with his words, but right now I was more focused on finding that note.

I remembered dropping it in Conrad's room, oh god, no I didn't leave it there, no I couldn't do something so stupid.

"Belly, do you wanna go out with me?" He blurted.

What did he just say?

My heartbeat began to quicken. My hands became clammy. I felt my face get a redish pigment and heat up.

"C'mon Jeremiah, let's go," I said finally, avoiding his question, hopping out of the Jeep.

He looked at me and sighed, probably knowing my answer was no, or just not knowing the answer. That was true. There's a chance Conrad knows I love him now, and Jeremiah just asked me out and I kissed him yesterday, what a fucking joy this is.

I slowly walked into the hospital, Jeremiah walking in front of me, he walked up to the front desk, and it took me a moment to catch up to him.

"Conrad Fisher." He said to the lady at the front desk.

"Guests?" She asked.

"Um… yes." Jeremiah said, questioning his presents there to himself.

She handed us guest passes and asked us to write our names on them, handing us a pen. I quickly squiggled my name, not caring about my handwriting.

I stuck the guest-pass-sticker thing on my shirt as Jeremiah did as well.

He handed her back her pen and gave her a quick "Thank you," and we walked in.

"What room is he?" I asked him.

"28 C." He said.

We walked to wing C, which was only about two seconds from the front desk and we started walking down the wing.

"24 C, 26 C, 28 C." He said, murmuring the room numbers to himself and pointing out Conrad's room.

He pulled the door knob down and pushed the door open. He looked to Conrad's bed. It was like we were back at the house, him sitting in his bed, playing guitar.

"Hey Con," Jeremiah walked in as if nothing was wrong, happiness dwelling his voice.

Conrad looked up, "Oh, Hey."

"Where did you get the guitar?" I said

I switched my brain to begin to think about the note once again. I scanned the floor for it.

"A nurse dropped it off," He said, tuning one of the strings carefully.

"Well that was nice of her." Jeremiah commented.

"Yeah, real nice," He started to play a short tune.

I continued to scan the floor for the note, where the fuck was it?!

I glanced over at the stand next to his bed, and saw a paper, not just any paper either. A paper folded the way _I _fold papers. A paper with _Conrad _written in cursive handwriting. My cursive handwriting. No, no he didn't read it, oh god, how could I be so stupid!?

I tried to shake it off and ignore it for now.

"So.. how you been feeling?" Jeremiah spoke to him.

"Alright, when you going to the cellar?" Conrad replied.

"I don't even know if we're going, I thought that people didn't go to jail for underage drinking anymore."

"I don't think so either.." I pitched in on the conversation.

"So.. what? You gotta pay my medical bill little brother?" Conrad joked.

Jeremiah snickered.

"Yeah like I had the money to do that," Jeremiah smiled.

"How much does insurance pay?" I asked.

"About 70%," Conrad said, looking down at his guitar.

"That's good," I asked.

"It's still gonna be a lot of money." Jeremiah pointed out.

"How much?" I asked.

"About $5,000?" I shook out of fear. 30% of the cost for Conrad's operation was $5,000? Why so much? Was it really that serious?

"Well, Con, thank god you're okay."

"It would be your fault if I wasn't," He played a chord.

"Don't make me feel any worse about this, man." Jeremiah wasn't kidding. His voice was filled with seriousness.

"Hey, sorry." Conrad looked sincere, but not too sincere to the point where he actually felt bad. Jeremiah felt nothing other than guilt. I understand why.

"Yeah, okay, sure you are." Sarcasm lingered Jeremiah's voice but there was no joke. He was angry, upset, filled with guilt.

"C'mon Jere, you know I'm just kidding,"

"Well, Conrad I'm not. You know how bad I felt for doing this to you guys, we're lucky Belly got out so fast, but if you weren't okay, you're my brother, you dying would be _my _fault, and you both did it to protect me, if anyone should have got hurt that night it should've been me. Not even Steven should've got hurt because I provoked it. And you teasing me about it doesn't help." His voice got louder and louder as he shouted, the room was a vast never ending pit of echoes.

Conrad glanced at me quickly then looked back over to Jeremiah.

"I'm really sorry I did that to you, I'll be fine Jere, I'm sorry I made you feel that way…"

"Whatever, I'll- I'll see you later I guess." Jeremiah swung the door open quickly and left Conrad's room.

"Well.. um.. I guess I should go too.."

"Wait, Belly, before you go.." His voice trailed off.

"That little note on the dresser—I believe that belongs to you," He flashed me a quick smile.

"Um.." I had nothing to say.

He didn't stop smiling.

"You're scaring me." I finally spoke.

"Something was written in there." He said.

"I know.." I choked out.

He continued to smile, god those dimples.

"Is it true..?"

"Maybe." I had no breath in my voice.

He continued to smile.

"Stop smiling!" I shouted.

He didn't.

"Stop!" I felt a smile creeping onto my face, but that only made him smile bigger.

"It's….cute." He said.

I snickered inwardly.

"Well I guess I should go catch up with Jere, he's my ride home and he seems pretty pissed."

"Yeah, you should, have a nice night, Belly." He flashed his smile one last time as I walked out of the room.

Well, today was… interesting.

**Hey guys, sorry kinda an awkward ending, and as you may be able to tell, maybe, maybe not, the chapters should be a lot longer than they used to be, because I started writing more stories more recently in time and they were like 20 pages on a word document.. so this is good… I think. Lol thanks for reading guys and tell me what you think(:**

**~Blacklove190**


	14. Arrest

**Hey again my lovely readers! I hope you liked my last chapter, and thank you for all the nice reviews, I do infact read them all and since some of you are guests, I can't reply, and I would if I could, so thank you lovelies! And I apologize for not updating sooner! But I promise, I will again even if it takes like.. a month. But thank you for staying with this story!**

**Here's the next chapter, enjoy!(:**

**Belly's P.O.V**

_Age Sixteen_

"Jere!"

My feet tapped the floor, and I exited the emergency room. I could see the hunter green jeep from here. But there was no Jeremiah. Where could he have gone?

Maybe I should be worried about Jere. Did he walk home? Or is he wandering around the emergency room? Or maybe just around a couple blocks? I flipping out my phone and messily hit his contact.

It rung twice and went to his voicemail.

"Hey Jere its Belly, where are you?! Answer your phone." I hung up.

I walked over to the jeep and carefully stepped inside it trying not to trip.

I leaned into the seat and closed my eyes. I dialed his number again, and this time, it rung three times before going to voicemail. I left another.

"Jere, I know you're declining me, but please, I know you're upset, please just come to the jeep and come to talk to me."

I hung up. A few moments went by before I received a text message.

_I'm so pissed. I'm sorry this is getting taken out on you, be there soon to give you a ride home. _

I texted back.

_Wait are you going home too?_

I waited.

_No._

_Why? Where are you going?_

"I don't even fucking know."

I jumped to the sound of a voice.

"Oh, hi Jeremiah."

"Yeah, hi." He said, obviously annoyed.

"C'mon Jere, Conrad was only kidding, please just come home." I pleaded.

He jumped in the jeep and started it up.

"No, no, I'm pissed. I feel guilty enough and he has to go and make me feel even worse. Dick."

"I know Jere, but please, Conrad's gonna be fine, and that's all that matters." I spoke.

"Whatever."

The rest of the car ride was completely silent, with no words, no sounds, it felt like neither of us were even _breathing. _The silence was worrying me.

He pulled into the driveway and I hopped out.

"Thanks.."

"Whatever."

"Don't do anything stupid."

He shrugged and drove away. This wasn't going to be good and I knew it. But what was I going to do? Chase the car down the road screaming his name? There was nothing I really could do.

I walked slowly into the house and sat on the couch.

"Where's Jere?" Steven's questioning voice asked from the kitchen.

"He went for a ride in the jeep." I answered.

"How's Conrad doing?"

"He woke up.." I told him.

"Yeah Susannah and mom told me."

"Oh, okay.." I replied.

He walked into the living room where I was sitting on the couch.

"You sound upset, Bells, what's wrong?" He said, looking at me.

I shook my head.

"No, nothing's wrong," I leaned back in the couch and reached for the remote.

"You sure?" He asked as I turned the TV on.

I nodded in response to his question.

He sat down on the couch next to me and leaned back crossing his ankles.

"What you wanna watch?" He asked and I shrugged.

I flipped through the channels and finally got to glee, at least there was one show I liked.

As I became intrigued by the show, Steven became disgusted, I was able to tell just by the look on his face.

"Ugh, I hate this show!" He complained.

"Whatever." I shrugged, annoyed with his complaining.

"Put the news on, there may be like a murder mystery or something."

I moaned, and unwillingly flipped to the news channel.

"And breaking news, right here in Cousins, there's been an arrest." The news lady spoke into the microphone.

"Oh, this one's gonna be good," Steven said, and I rolled my eyes.

"A man about 5'11, long blonde hair has been going store to store yelling at managers about how his brother just woke up from a coma, the release fee will be $150 at least."

They showed a picture of the man. But it wasn't a man. It was a boy. A boy I knew. It was Jeremiah.

"Holy shit!" Steven jumped up.

I covered my face with my hands.

"Shit, no!" I screamed past them.

"Belly what the fuck happened?!" Steven yelled at me.

"I-I don't know!" I stuttered.

"C'mon!" He shouted, and ran outside into his car, which was a mustang.

I lifted myself into the passenger seat.

"Where is he?! Where should we go?" I shouted, it didn't even sound like a question.

"I-I don't know, the police station?"

I nodded. "That sounds good."

**Jeremiah's P.O.V**

"You get to make one phone call, good luck." The man handed me 50 cents.

I put it in the phone and dialed a phone number.

"Hello?" Her voice answered the phone.

"Belly! I'm in the police station, please come and bail me out!"

"Yeah, I know Jere, I saw you on the news, Steven and I are coming right now,"

"I was on the news?"

"Yes," She answered, "I already know the release fee."

"What is it?" I asked.

"$150 dollars or more…" Her voice trailed off.

"Shit," I spoke.

"gimme the phone," I heard in the back and I also heard a bunch of static, signaling Steven was taking the phone from her.

"You asswipe! Conrad's medical bill is enough as it is! You needed to come and make us pay more money, where the fuck are we gonna get $150 dollars from?!" He screamed in the phone.

I leaned against the wall and sighed.

"Before you get here, go to the bank, I'm pretty sure I left my wallet in your car, Steve, and I'm pretty sure my bank account card is in there. Take $200 out of my account." I said to him, unwillingly.

"Fine. But we didn't need anything else," He said and murmured "asshole," under his breath.

I heard Belly's voice again.

"I guess we'll be there soon." She said.

"I'm sorry Belly." I croaked.

"It's alright…" She answered.

"Don't tell Susannah, Laurel, or especially Conrad, please Belly," I pleaded.

"I won't,"

"Give the phone to Steven."

"What do you want?" He said, obviously annoyed with me.

"Don't tell Susannah, Laurel or Conrad, please.." I pleaded.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," His harsh voice said into the phone.

"Please, Steve."

The line went dead.

I looked at the police man.

He shrugged. "C'mon, kid."

He grabbed my arm and pulled me to a cellar. Jail.

Only one tear slipped, and I wiped it away fast so he wouldn't see.

"Have fun." He harshly said and pushed me into the cell.

I sat on the bench, waiting to have my life saved.

**Belly's P.O.V**

Steven explained to me how we were going to use Jeremiah's own money to bail him out. Luckily, his wallet was in the car like he said and so was his bank card. We withdrew 200 bucks from his account before leaving to get to the police station.

"This is a pain in my ass, you were just with him Belly! How could you not see this coming?!" Steven screamed at me.

"How was I supposed to know he'd be screaming at random people he meets on the fucking street Steven?!" I screamed back.

"You were with him! You had to know something was off!"

That I couldn't deny. He was pissed before, but I thought he would just go for a ride in the jeep to clear his head, not cause all trouble in the fucking town!

"I didn't know he'd scream at people! I thought he just went to clear his head!" I screamed.

"Well obviously not!"

I didn't speak. The rest of the ride was silent. I was so annoyed. How the hell could Steven blame this on me!? It wasn't my fault! If it was anyone's fault it was Conrad's. He was the one that pissed him off like that!

We pulled into the police station parking lot. He pulled into a pretty close parking space and revved the car off. I jumped out, and Steven and I both began running into the station.

"Hey, wait you kids!" A police man stopped us.

"What's wrong, what's going on?" He asked.

"Our friend is here." Steven said.

"We're here to bail him out." I continued.

The police man lost respect for us.

"Oh. Name?"

"Jeremiah Fisher?" Steven answered.

"Oh, follow me."

He led us to a room. A dark room with cells. Tons of cells. Grey, dark, black cells that scared me. I could imagine a guy dressed in completely black clothing lingering in there, and it made me shiver. The thought of Jeremiah in one of these made goose bumps form all over my body.

He led us to the grey metal cell, where I saw the face of a golden-blonde haired boy. He was sitting on a grey bench and looking at the cement ground.

"Jeremiah!" Steven said.

He looked at us and jumped up off the bench and looked up at us.

"Steven, Belly!" He said, running to the bars.

"Boy, you made a good choice in who to call, you're lucky you have friends like them,"

He said something kind of nice, but his tone was completely different.

"I know sir," He said.

"How much is the fee?" Steven asked.

"$150."

Steven handed the cop $150 in $20 dollar bills.

"You're lucky this time, kid. Get out." They ordered, and we left.

The three of us loaded into the mustang.

"Jere, where's your jeep?" Steven asked.

"Still on the avenue. I was running in each store there." He answered.

"Why the fuck would you do that?!" I screamed, annoyed with him.

"I'm sorry Belly! I was annoyed!"

"I told you not to do anything stupid!" I snapped back at him.

"You did?" Steven said in a low voice.

"Well I was being stupid!"

"Yeah, no shit!" I leaned back in the seat.

"Guys don't argue." Steven tried to separate it.

"You're one to talk, Stevie, you were fighting with me on the way here!"

I was turning against everyone.

"I didn't know you told him not to do anything stupid!" He argued back.

"Well no shit, you think I wanted him to get hurt!?"

Jeremiah sat, listening to our fight, but now he said nothing. Jeremiah went from exploding on me to sitting completely silent.

"No of course not! God, Belly! I'm sorry, is that what you want to hear!"

"Drop me off at the hospital." I said, keeping the volume of my voice under control.

Jeremiah turned and shot me a look. I shrugged.

Steven pulled into the hospital parking lot, about a mile away from the actual hospital.

"Get out."

I rolled my eyes and opened the car door.

I walked to the front of the hospital and inside. I still had my guest pass pasted on my clothes from earlier and walked right in.

Conrad's room was around two corners. I walked to his room.

He was still, playing chords and notes and anything he could think of on that guitar. I walked in the room.

"Hey, Bells!" He said when he first saw me.

"Hey," I sat down in a chair on the side.

"Where's Jeremiah, is he still pissed?"

I shrugged. "I guess he's better.."

"Good, good." He nodded.

I changed the subject.

"What you playing?" I asked

"I'm trying to play 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' By Greenday."

I heard the first couple of chords right of the song, but then he messed up, but very slightly. I barely heard it.

"Dammit," He said.

"No that was good! Keep going!"

He crinkled his eyebrows and looked at me.

"Keep playing." I asked.

"I messed up though, Belly." He smiled.

"But it was good, I love that song,"

He shrugged and looked back down at his guitar and began playing notes. He played them all right, and when Billie Joe Armstrong came into sing, I began singing the song.

"_Summer has gone and past, the innocent can never last, wake me up when September Ends,"_

I knew I sucked, but I wanted to sing anyway. He looked up and me quickly, still hitting the notes before singing with me.

"_Like my father's come to pass, seven years has gone so fast, wake me up when September ends,"_

"_Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars, drenched in my pain again, becoming who we are, as my memory rests, but never forgets what I lost, wake me up, when September ends,"_

He stopped playing. We looked at each other, and smiled. He waited a moment, and continued to sing.

"_Summer has come and past,"_

I began to sing with him.

"_The innocent can never last, wake me up when September ends."_

I sat on the side of his bed.

"_Bring out the bells again, like we did when spring began, wake me up, when September ends,"_

He seemed to have come closer.

"_Here comes the rain again."_

Closer.

"_Falling from the stars"_

Closer.

"_Drenched in my pain again,"_

Closer.

"_Becoming who we are."_

I wasn't singing anymore. Our faces were so close together I could feel his breath.

The music stopped and something else started. We were kissing. Not like before. It was like magic. This wasn't like Jeremiah's kiss either. I felt something. More than a spark and less than a fire.

It lasted for a wonderful, beautiful moment. Then it was over.

I was looking into his deep, blue eyes that took me away for years.

"Belly, you know, I love you,"

I smiled and began facing the other way, still sitting on his bed, to hide my blushed cheeks and bright smile that naturally formed across my face.

"Hey, turn around," He said, tugging on my hair, trying to get me turn my head.

"I don't wanna." I giggled.

"Why? I want to see your beautiful face."

I slowly turned around revealing my smile and my face, red as ladybug.

"Someone's blushing," He teased.

I continued to smile, maybe even bigger.

"What? I don't get an 'I love you too'?"

But I didn't have to say it. He already knew by my red face and my wide smile.

"I love you too," I said it anyway.

"Good." He said.

I laughed.

We sat in the moment, unsure of what to do next. But there was no awkward tension at all. Comforted by each other's looks and faces, there was nothing wrong.

"So, Bells, the doctor told me I was leaving tonight, so go home, and relax, and we can continue this.. later."

My chest fluttered and my stomach flipped.

"Okay, I'll see you then," I smiled.

"I promise we'll continue." He winked.

I blushed, smiled and nodded. "Okay,"

I walked out of the room and knew I couldn't be happier. Ever.

**Sorry for the awkwardness in my ending, I needed to finish this chapter! Love you all!**

**~Blacklove190**


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